


And If I Trust You, What Becomes

by Lizicia



Series: Seven nation army couldn't hold us back [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, seriously guys very AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 07:51:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3111938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizicia/pseuds/Lizicia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'She leaves with Miles and disappears into the bright streets of Hong Kong.<br/>He never sees her again. He’s glad.<br/>And then he does.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	And If I Trust You, What Becomes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt from thequeenofokay's 'don't bring tomorrow'.  
> Also posted on Tumblr.

“So, what do you think?”

Skye wants to say something witty like  _What do_ you _think_  but all that comes out is a low-pitched moan as Miles kisses across her collarbone and lower.

“We could be on a plane to anywhere in the world, you just have to say the word. I have IDs and covers and routes planned out.”

He whispers the words into her skin and she lets them settle, lets herself listen and tries to concentrate.

“I still need to find my parents.”

“Mm, but what about that  _awesome_  program you inserted into the S.H.I.E.L.D. mainframe? You don’t really have to go back, do you now?”

She pulls his head up from her stomach – which she was really enjoying, thank you very much – and looks at him sternly. “You know, I came here to ask what you know about Chan Ho Yin.”

But her voice lacks conviction, so Miles only grins and pushes upwards to kiss her. “Yes, but I told  _you_  I don’t know who that is. And besides, isn’t this so much better?”

She smiles back and kisses him, the conversation coming to a halt. It isn’t until she surprises him by flipping him onto his back – something useful did come out of training – that she picks the thread up.

“But I want to go somewhere warm.”

Miles looks a bit dazed as he grins up at her. “What?”

“I said…” and Skye kisses him again, slowly and affectionately, “that I want to go somewhere warm. Can you manage that?”

“Are you saying you’ll leave S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Well, the program can be monitored from a distance and they won’t know to look for it because it’s merely gathering information. So, in short, duh.”

Miles grins so infectiously that she can’t help but beam back.

There is nothing worth saving or going back for at S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

 

When Skye’s disappearance has been noted, Ward is displeased with himself for letting her get out of his sight. Coulson is hesitant and hopeful but Ward knows that May is thinking the same thing that he is – Skye is not coming back.

When they don’t manage to find Miles Lydon either, he has a reason as well. He had noticed the slightest shift in her the moment his picture appeared on the screen but hadn’t really paid attention to it.

But a world-famous hacker and a well-renowned member of the Rising Tide? Of course he would be her boyfriend.

And on some level, he’s even glad that she’s gone. Being her S.O. was distracting him from his other endeavors and she was one more member of Coulson’s team he had to adjust to and always include in mapping out his strategies.

It has nothing to do with the fact that she made him smile.

And if he throws away his battleship game, it doesn’t mean anything.

* * *

 

He doesn’t let himself think about her for the next months, through Centipede and the girl in the flower dress and the sense of approaching doom. Once Hydra emerges from the shadows and chaos erupts around them, he barely manages to get out and plays along when the team identifies Garrett as the Clairvoyant. Getting on that plane with Hand is child’s play and so is killing her and the agents. The one factor he doesn’t count on, apparently, is how good of an agent Victoria Hand is as she still manages to get a shot off and wounds Garrett on the plane.

It is a messy situation and as he holds his S.O., trying to stop the blood flow, it should not be the moment to be reminded of someone long gone.

And that is exactly what happens because Garrett’s dying words are puzzling.

“You remember Skye?”

Ward looks at him strangely; of all the things to say before dying, this has to be one he wouldn’t have guessed. “What?”

“The hacker, the girl on your team.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“She is special, Ward. So special.”

His voice carries softer and softer and Ward can feel John’s pulse beating slower, the blood flowing from the wound on his neck not slowing down one bit.

“Don’t speak, John. You’ll be fine.” Or at least that’s what he hopes, as long as someone at Hydra actually answers their damned emergency line and follows protocols to confirm their destination.

Garrett shakes his head and tries to lift his hand to grasp Ward’s jacket sleeve. “Listen to me. That girl is not who she thinks…so special. My…0-8-4…”

His voice drifts off and Ward grits his teeth in frustration.

Finally, his sat phone clicks through. “This is Grant Ward, initiating protocol 3-7-5, requesting immediate assistance.”

“This line is reserved for emergencies only. No names.” A cool and calm voice greets him on the other end, so out of sync with everything happening around them.

“This is a fucking emergency!” He yells into the phone. “Initiate protocol 3-7-5, I repeat, 3-7-5. The Clairvoyant is down.”

“Injured or dead?”

“Seriously injured, so we need a safe haven to land and a doctor to operate and we need it now. He’s losing a lot of blood.”

There is silence for a moment.

“Request denied. Protocol 3-7-5 is deemed to risky to activate at this moment. Protocol 6-9-8 has been chosen instead.”

6-9-8.  _Within range of acceptable loss, no critical damage expected._

“This is John Garrett’s life we’re talking about here. He needs to be saved! He is not an acceptable loss!”

“No names. Request denied. Best of luck, Agent. Hail Hydra.”

And just like that, the phone clicks off, the final phrase mocking him even through the static of the phone. Hydra has cut them off, has deemed them to be acceptable losses and refuses to actually do something for one of its most eminent members.

He hurls the phone across the plane floor and watches it scatter into tiny pieces. What does it matter now that they have nowhere to go? Their covers are blown and the organization currently rising and claiming power has stranded them.

“John, listen to me. I will get us out of here.”

But his eyes are closed and his breathing shallow, and Ward feels the warm wetness of his blood seeping into his jeans and feels so utterly helpless that he hasn’t in a while, since he looked into a deep dark well.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I should’ve seen her, should’ve known…”

Garrett sluggishly opens his eyes but Ward knows that he’s too far gone. “Hey, kid. Remember Skye… _important._ ”

And why the fuck is he still bringing up the girl Ward wants nothing to do with when he’s dying? He feels moisture in his eyes and takes a heavy breath to clear his throat which suddenly feels like clogging up. He didn’t cry at his father’s funeral but he feels now like that 11-year-old boy who didn’t know how to lose someone, someone who had been mean and unkind but still, someone who had been  _there_.

Garrett mumbles something more and then his eyes fall shut and he’s gone.

Ward sits on the floor of the plane and feels something inside of him shatter into a million pieces. Now he is truly alone.

* * *

 

The thing is, it is really hard to live off money you’re not supposed to have, so it doesn’t take Skye too long to notice that their disposable income is kind of…funky.

So she does what any concerned girlfriend would do. She hacks Miles’ bank account.

Okay, maybe not  _any_  girlfriend but she’s never been the healthiest girl in a relationship. And when she finds traces of a million dollars, deposited right before they met up in Hong Kong, when he swore to her that he had no idea who Chan Yo Hin was, she doesn’t want to feel as victorious as she does.

A million dollars. That bastard.

“What the fuck, Miles? Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to sell information!”

He startles from making coffee in the kitchen and when he takes more than four seconds to turn around and actually face her, she has her answer.

“Oh my god. You did, didn’t you? You sold someone the location. We don’t do that!”

“It was a million dollars, Skye. That is a lot of money and I knew you would never come with me unless I could give you the life you really wanted.”

She just gapes at him, thinking about the plane tickets to Macau, their nice apartment, their phones, all of it, and just can’t believe it. “You thought I wanted money from you? Money which you got from selling information? You stupid lying bastard.”

“It didn’t do any harm! The S.H.I.E.L.D. feed was just random chatter, I checked!”

And yes, she doesn’t know what it did or didn’t do because she certainly hasn’t checked up on any S.H.I.E.L.D. missions concerning her team –  _the_  team – but the point remains. “Harmless? People who want harmless information don’t pay a million fucking dollars for it, Miles!”

She realizes that they’re yelling at each other and their apartment isn’t the most sound-proof but she is just so furious right now.

“Would you stop yelling at me? Look, it didn’t do anything terrible, the world still stands and it’s fine, Skye.”

But no, it really isn’t.

“Have you done this more than once?”

He looks guilty for a fraction of a second and maybe she wouldn’t have seen it if her S.O. hadn’t been such a hard-ass about learning subtle differences in body languages but oh, he is so dead.

“How often?”

Miles looks away but she refuses to fill the silence with any more questions and prodding. Finally, he looks back and there is something unfamiliar on his face.

“The same group that hired me once…they’ve asked me to do this a couple more times.”

“I don’t even know you.”

“Come on, Skye, don’t be so dramatic. I’m still doing good, uncovering information, letting it out into the world.”

“You’re taking  _blood money_. This not what we stand for.”

“That is so unfair. I’m doing  _good_. What difference does it make if I hack feeds for fun or if I get paid for it because there are others who understand the importance of our work?”

“I’m leaving.”

And because she is impulsive and hot-headed, she leaves just then and there, without looking back, and not hearing Miles say her name.

She also hacks S.H.I.E.L.D. for the first time in months and learns that Hin was killed, but not before someone did horrific experimentation on him, trying to manipulate his powers. She feels sick in the knowledge that Miles helped with that. She sees a trail beginning with that event and connects it to others, sees more people who have been victimized by the same benevolent organization Miles wants to believe in.

And because she just can’t deal with this, she leaves Macau behind. A girl needs some change once in a while.

* * *

 

When the world goes to hell and Hydra emerges from the shadows, Skye barely has time to comprehend it all before history repeats itself as Ward opens the door to her van and all but drags her out.

“We need to leave, now.”

She jerks her hand back and stares at him. “What, you don’t say hello like normal people do?”

He glares at her with a look reminiscent of their early days. “Do you want me to do that or do you want to get out of here and survive? Do you think S.H.I.E.L.D. falling has no ramifications for you?”

“What are you talking about? I left ages ago, if you don’t remember.”

He almost grits his teeth in frustration. “Hydra doesn’t really care about that, as long as you can be useful.”

“To do what, hack? Why would they need me?”

He doesn’t respond but tosses her a bike helmet and levels her with a glare. “Either you come with me now and survive or get taken by them and find out if they need you first-hand.”

She is confused and slightly angry but in this new world where a supersoldier can protect the country from a supervillain with a bionic arm, she really shouldn’t risk it. Besides, she could still trust Ward. Sort of.

“Fine.”

She hops into her van for a quick moment, purging all the files from her computer and grabbing her go-bag – so what if some of her training was already sticking to her? - and gets on Ward’s bike in moments.

He doesn’t say anything else but speeds away and she only has to keep holding on.

When they reach a nondescript brick house, Ward continues to manhandle her slightly, grabbing her by the arm and guiding her into a small apartment.

“So this is what a safe house looks like.”

She looks around unabashedly. It is not much, a small studio apartment with the bare necessities but enough to lay low.

Ward is still standing with his back to her and there is a tenseness in his shoulders which she maybe shouldn’t recognize but once she does, she can’t stay quiet about it.

“So, what gives? Why are you not with the others?”

“Do you know that Hydra…”

“Took charge and all that? Yeah. We’ve been over that already.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She notices Ward’s hands clench into fists before he turns around and there is something unexpectedly dark and sad about his expression that she doesn’t quite understand. Or maybe doesn’t want to understand because there can be only one thing he would want to tell her.

“Are you…are you  _Hydra_?”

He takes a measured breath. “Kind of.”

Skye doesn’t think she’s ever seen Ward be hesitant about something but there it is.

“So that talk about getting me away from Hydra for some reason was just a trap and you’re  _delivering_  me!”

She yells at him, angry and frustrated but her mind is going a hundred miles a minute because there is no scenario in which Ward wouldn’t be able to overpower her. And, strangely, she doesn’t somehow really believe he has duped her like that.

“No, I did not  _deliver_  you, Skye. But I saw that they were coming for you and-”

“And you swooped in to save me? Why?”

She genuinely doesn’t understand what he could possibly find in a girl who he knew for all of a month and even that a long time ago.

“Because they’re not good people.”

“And you are? Aren’t you with them? Also, while we’re on the subject, how could you be this duplicitous, betraying the team and S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

He raises an eyebrow. “You want to lecture me on loyalty when you left us for the Rising Tide? And Miles?”

Okay, pot, meet kettle. He’s got her there.

“But I’m not a member of a super-secret organization that just took over the world to what, cover it in blood? I have  _principles_ , Ward.”

“I’m not actually with Hydra.”

At her blank stare – carefully perfected – his face falls into a mask and he shrugs his shoulders, seemingly nonchalant. “Well, you are welcome to leave and take your chances. I just wanted to help you.”

And even if she still doesn’t quite understand  _why_  and he doesn’t seem too keen on explaining, she relaxes infinitesimally, despite his open suggestion to just leave.

“Okay. Let’s say I’m staying. What exactly are we going to do? Form a group of avengers? Take over the world? What is the plan going from here?”

That is the moment when Grant Ward, specialist extraordinaire who always has a plan, a suggestion, a reason, is just utterly  _speechless_.

“We’ll figure it out as we go?”

Skye doesn’t even quite understand why but she just starts laughing at that, honest, full-on laughing. Ward just watches her, perplexed but she sees the corners of his mouth rise up a bit and she knows – they will be fine.


End file.
